WSOP 2023 Day 47 Recap: Maiden Bracelets Won by Faraz Jaka and Diego Ventura, Seven Events in Progress

Three WSOP bracelets were won and four more events progressed to later stages on a busy day of action at the Horseshoe Las Vegas and Paris casinos on Saturday. With Faraz Jaka and Diego Ventura both winning debut bracelets, it was an exciting day on the Las Vegas Strip as millions of dollars were won and dreams came true.

 

Faraz Jaka Wins Debut Bracelet for $237,367

 

Faraz Jaka won his first-ever WSOP bracelet for $237,767 as he conquered the final shootout table of three in Event #85. Jaka, whose prowess as both a poker professional and coach is legendary, was overwhelmed at the close of the event as he discussed finally getting the monkey off his back in WSOP event.

 

“I feel pretty great and am just taking it all in. I was so zoned in that, I’m still kind of decompressing. I mean, I’ve gotten a lot of seconds and thirds, not just in WSOP but also in like WPT events and so on. So, it's definitely nice to kind of get that monkey off my back and I feel like it's just one of those things and I’m gonna start shipping the rest now.”

 

Jaka’s victory came at the expense of not only a superb heads-up challenger in Michael Finstein, but a table packed with talent as Yuri Dzivielevski (5^th for $63,295) and Adam Friedman (8^th for $29,834) both fell short of glory as the impressive Jaka saw it out.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #85 $1,500 NLHE Shootout Results:
Rank	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Faraz Jaka	United States	$237,367
2nd	Michael Finstein	Unites States	$146,686
3rd	Olga Iermolcheva	Ukraine	$109,780
4th	Ao Chen	United States	$82,954
5th	Yuri Dzivielevski	Brazil	$63,295
6th	Matteo Cavelier	France	$47,772
7th	Mo Zhou	China	$37,955
8th	Adam Friedman	United States	$29,834
9th	Allan Mello	Brazil	$23,689
10th	Edward Mroczkowski	United States	$19,003

 

Diego Ventura Wins Debut Gold in HOF Bounty

 

Peruvian superstar Diego Ventura finally grabbed the WSOP bracelet his career’s trajectory deserved as he crushed the opposition in the $1,979-entry Poker Hall of Fame event, winning the top prize of $402,054. Taking home his first bracelet, Ventura got the job done, beating Thomas Kysar heads up for the win. At a continental final table, the final nine players were representing six countries as Jimmy Setna busted first after running into pocket aces, before Israel’s Leonid Yanovski (8^th for $42,336) busted to Martin Jacobson.

 

The 2014 world champion would have hoped to use that hand as a springboard to a second bracelet, but he fell next, as Ventura’s control over the table grew. Previous powerhouse in the event Jason James missed out in 3^rd place for $179,593 as the second of two Canadians at the final table felt went close but not close enough.

 

Ventura, who burst into tears at the sheer magnitude of his achievement upon completion of the event, described how he felt to reporters afterwards.

 

“When I got to the final table I already wanted to cry,” he confessed. “I was like, ‘Wait, it’s not the moment yet’, so I was trying to calm myself down. When the moment arrived, I was like so calm that I couldn’t let my emotions out until, I just started to look back at my life and in that moment I got emotional.”

 

In a career-defining moment, Ventura’s victory landed him a top prize of $402,054 but to Peru’s most successful ever player, the gold bracelet was worth far more.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #86 $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Results:
Rank	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Diego Ventura	Peru	$402,054
2nd	Thomas Kysar	United States	$248,502
3rd	Jason James	Canada	$179,593
4th	Francis Anderson	United States	$131,324
5th	Jose Nadal	Mexico	$97,174
6th	Louie Torres	United States	$72,773
7th	Martin Jacobson	Sweden	$55,165
8th	Leonid Yanovski	Israel	$42,336
9th	Jimmy Setna	Canada	$32,897

 

Dong Meng Triumphs in Flip & Go Event

 

The 89^th event of the 2023 WSOP saw American Dong Meng win the $1,000-entry Flip & Go event in association with GGPoker.  With 128 players making it through to the ‘poker’ segment of the action as opposed to the flipping fun beforehand, Meng got the better of Wesley Fei heads-up. Overnight chip leader Pete Chen fell in 5^th place and the former WSOP Main Event runner-up David Williams came 6^th for $28,870.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #89 $1,000 Flip & Go Results:
Rank	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Dong Meng	United States	$160,490
2nd	Wesley Fei	China	$100,120
3rd	Brady Hinnegan	Canada	$71,700
4th	Kevin Eyster	United States	$52,280
5th	Pete Chen	Taiwan	$38,600
6th	David Williams	United States	$28,870
7th	Eric Wasserson	United States	$21,880
8th	Drew Gonzalez	United States	$16,790
9th	Andrew Sandomire	United States	$13,070

 

The Closer Day 1B Closes with Drama as Ivey and Arieh Draw Blanks

 

It took 22 levels of play to conclude Day 1B of The Closer, which costs $1,500 to play. As the bags were passed around, it emerged that Chen Feng Wen and Mathew Moore (both 1,750,000) were the joint chip leaders, with Cuba Levenberry (1,710,000) piling up chips too.  

 

Just 183 players remained from 2,390 players who packed into both the Horseshoe and Paris casinos in Las Vegas as they bid to win their part of a prizepool now in excess of $4.7 million. Plenty of big names made the grade, with Niall Farrell (805,000), Ben Yu (535,000) and Women’s Poker Hall of Famer Kathy Liebert (130,000) all making the cut.

 

Other superstars of the felt weren’t able to ‘grab a bag’ as Phil Ivey, Josh Arieh, Maria Konnikova and Mustapha Kanit all busted on the day.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #88 $1,500 The Closer Day 1b Leaderboard:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips/Prize
1st	Chen Feng Wen	China	1,750,000
2nd	Mathew Moore	United States	1,750,000
3rd	Cuba Levenberry	United States	1,710,000
4th	David Baize	United States	1,700,000
5th	Daris Justice	United States	1,530,000

 

Pupillo Chasing Nghia in Extended Mixed Event

 

Nick Pupillo was one three players forced into an extra day to battle for the WSOP crown in Event #87, the $2,500-entry Mixed Omaha/Seven Card Stud event. It is Nghia Le (7,400,000) who holds the chip lead coming into the final day’s play tomorrow, but Pupillo is close with 6,045,000 chips. Behind the top two Americans, Canadian player Bradley Smith (2,655,000) will attempt to run up his stack and get the job done from a position of absolutely no pressure.

 

Earlier at the final table, Yuval Bronshtein of Israel had missed out on the opportunity of adding to his bracelet haul as he busted in 8^th place for $19,662.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #87 $2,500 Mixed Omaha/Seven Card Stud:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips/Prize
1st	Nghia Le	United States	7,400,000
2nd	Nick Pupillo	United States	6,045,000
3rd	Bradley Smith	Canada	2,655,000
4th	Omar Mehmood	United States	$66,605
5th	Timothy Frazin	United States	$47,721
6th	Jonah Seewald	United States	$34,836
7th	Philip Sternheimer	United States	$25,919
8th	Yuval Bronshtein	Israel	$19,662

 

O’Connor Calling the Shots in NLHE Championship

 

British player Jamie ‘Boz’ O’Connor leads the $10,000-entry NLHE Championship, also known as Event #90 on the 2023 ticket. The British player’s stack of 2.54 million chips is good for a marginal lead from American AJ Kelsall, who piled up 2.32 million as 55 Day 2 late entries swelled the total field to 550 players and the prize pool to $5,115,000. With a total of 252 players starting Day 2, O’Connor led the final 30 players on his way a Day 3 that will produce a champion.

 

With another British legend, Stephen Chidwick (1.6m) also in the top five stacks, O’Connor won’t have it easy, but his record in six-max events is very strong. Only four years ago, he finished third in a similar six-max WSOP event. O’Connor, who has $1.2 million in tournament results alone and is an accomplished cash game player also, will be desperate to finish two places higher this time to claim his first WSOP bracelet and a career-high top prize of $1.05 million.  

 

WSOP 2023 Event #90 $10,000 6-Max NLHE Championship:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Jamie O'Connor	United Kingdom	2,545,000
2nd	AJ Kelsall	United States	2,325,000
3rd	Fabrice Bigot	France	1,975,000
4th	Farid Jattin	Colombia	1,935,000
5th	Stephen Chidwick	United Kingdom	1,615,000
6th	Frank Lagodich	United States	1,505,000
7th	Michael Rossitto	United States	1,455,000
8th	Bruno Volkmann	Brazil	1,380,000
9th	Justin Liberto	United Kingdom	1,355,000
10th	Eli Berg	United States	1,350,000

 

Akkari on Top in H.O.R.S.E. Event #91

 

Andre Akkari is the player in charge after Day 1 of Event #91, the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. event saw 195 progress from 332 total entries. With top 10 stacks Chad Eveslage (167,000) and Bryan Micon (141,600) both flying high, there are plenty of players who know how to close out tournaments and with over $208,000 on the line, the prize pool of $886,000 will be divided between just 50 players, with the money bubble expected to burst tomorrow.

 

WSOP 2023 Event #91 $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. Leaderboard:
Rank	Player	Country	Chips
1st	Andre Akkari	Brazil	232,300
2nd	Matthew Schultz	United States	205,800
3rd	David Bagheri	United States	174,000
4th	Chad Eveslage	United States	167,000
5th	Adam Kipnis	United States	160,400
6th	Paresh Doshi	United Kingdom	157,500
7th	Leonard August	United States	153,100
8th	Jordan Etzig	United States	148,300
9th	Craig Chait	United States	145,200
10th	Bryan Micon	Antigua and Barbuda	141,600

 

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